[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]sundown, which is a help. Marge more work, I fear. We must pray that the good
spirits remain with us and that a target of opportunity presents itself."
They fell back about a quarter of a mile from the tower and waited while Marge
continued to scout the area. She returned as sundown was almost upon them and
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they had just about given up being able to put the plan into operation that
night.
"Rider coming. Bentar on a big black horse. I think it's one
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20Dancing.txt (149 of 222) [1/19/03 4:26:46 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20The%20Dancing%20G
ods%202%20-%20Demons%20of%20the%20Dancing.txt of those that left earlier
today."
Tiana nodded. "It will have to do. Joe, get into position.
I'm going to lure it your way if possible."
Joe drew his sword and got behind a tree just inside the forest. Tiana and he
had gone over this many times, but he was still uncertain about it and still
apprehensive about all that could go wrong. The sun was almost gone, and it
would be cutting things very close indeed, even if all went well.
The Bentar came along the road, dressed in full armor, a huge, muscular,
man-shaped bird with nasty eyes. It was look-
ing pretty well straight ahead, but Tiana made enough of a commotion to
attract it by the simple expedient of seeming to trip over a vine and cursing.
The Bentar officer glanced quickly in her direction and did not hesitate.
Dismounting and drawing its sword at the same time, it proceeded cautiously
into the woods, being as quiet as a creature as large as it was could be.
Tiana had gotten up and taken cover behind a tree, but she was careful to
leave just a part of leg exposed to view. The
Bentar, after checking the area, suddenly spotted it; while the great birdlike
head remained expressionless as always, a tiny forked tongue ran out of its
mouth and along its beak in an-
ticipation. Slowly, carefully, the Bentar soldier crept toward the tree that
almost concealed her, passing several other trees at the same time. After it
passed one particularly large speci-
men, Joe, still unseen, brought down the flat of his sword on top of the
Bentar's bronze helmet, and the creature toppled over, groaned once, then lay
still.
Tiana quickly rushed over to the fallen soldier, checked, and nodded to Joe.
"Hurry," she told him.
"I'd still rather be the Bentar," he muttered, but he went out to the road all
the same. They had gone over and over this, and the way they were doing it was
the safest and surest way to do what had to be done.
Marge held and pacified the large horse, but backed off when Joe approached.
He looked around nervously, not quite knowing what to expect, or even whether
this wasn't something rather stupid. It certainly looked dark enough to him,
if this curse thing were really true. He just stood there, petting the horse,
and hoped that all would go well.
There was a sudden, odd blurring of vision and the fleeting feeling that he
was on fire; then it was over. Marge rushed out, looking very happy, and she
and Tiana hurriedly removed the saddle, pack, and bridle from the Bentar's
horse and put them
174
DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS JACK L. CHALKER
175
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file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20The%20Dancing%20G
ods%202%20-%20Demons%20of%20the%20Dancing.txt on Joe, who was now that horse's
twin.
Only his prior experience as a bull, when he'd had an en-
counter with a Circean, kept him calm and cool. In point of-
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fact, being a horse felt, well, right somehow.
The two women barely got the original horse out of sight before there was a
great stamping and cursing in an inhuman language issuing from the brush. Joe
turned his horse's head and saw the Bentar, dizzy and rubbing its head, manage
to make its way out to the road. It headed for what it believed was its horse.
Just before mounting, it turned unexpectedly and shouted, in the universal
language, back at the forest, "All right you have had your little victory!
Enjoy it! None of you shall leave Witchwood alive, and your fate will be most
un-
pleasant!" With that the Bentar mounted the horse and urged it slowly forward.
Joe had been uneasy that he wouldn't know how to react, but he found that his
duplicate horse's body felt like and reacted just like the original. They
approached the gate nearest the ambush spot, and the Bentar reined him in and
called out, "Guards! Open the gate! I have important news!" This was followed
by several under-the-breath curses in the odd-sound-
ing Bentar tongue, but Joe didn't think he needed a translation.
Despite the sorcerous protections, the place was as well guarded as any fort,
and two sentries appeared atop the wall with crossbows aimed at the outsider,
while a small peephole in the gate itself slid back to reveal a pair of eyes,
then slid shut again. There were muffled commands given, dogs barked
furiously, and the double gate of bronze and wood opened inward. The Bentar
rode into the castle at this, and Joe was relieved to find no barrier to his
own passage. He had been worried about what constituted an invitation and had
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